The Anti-Intellectualism Demon King’s World Invasion

Chapter 50. Dropout Section -Second-(+Volume 2 Epilogue)

I am the personality in charge of the community. You could say I’m the personality in charge of laziness and humanity. The atmosphere of the community was quite different from the bustling early days.

Usually, game communities are filled with 99.99% worthless posts, but this game originally involved soul extinction, and quite a few players had directly ‘killed’ others. Many seriously aimed to become gods.

It’s an environment where meaningless, persistent posts or trash posts that make you frown can’t be uploaded like in common communities.

I heard that if you try to post something merely unpleasant, the angel side blocks it from the start, so it has to be clean.

It’s a bit disappointing.

“What exactly do you want to do, Mr. Bine?”

“Increase the discomfort index and decrease the concentration of all other players.”

“That’s not allowed······.”

As a result, the conversations in the game community were unbelievably serious and constructive. Most were requests for strategy research, information exchange, or trades. If not, they were thoroughly ‘to win’ posts seeking alliances.

I also paid close attention to those. Of course, there were no ‘strategy posts’ generously shared with others, but you could see the general trends from the topics discussed. What builds they might have created, and what they aimed for, etc.

However, that doesn’t mean players didn’t have any meaningless conversations. Discussions on such topics were quite common.

「Title: What is the purpose of this game?

Content: The resources required to host this game wouldn’t be small by common sense. But I don’t understand what the host intends with this game. They say they’re selecting a true god, but no matter how you look at it, the host’s omnipotence far surpasses that of the true god.

Why would they select a true god in such a complicated way? The host could just make someone they know into a true god, so why bring in external participants?

Comment 1: The thing called the fragment of god is suspicious. What are they trying to do by combining the pieces of the old god?

Comment 2: I think the whole game might be a single ritual.

Comment 3: Considering that some players came from playing games rather than being successful politicians or scholars, it’s even more severe.」

They were mostly barking up the wrong tree, focusing on the fragments of god. Since I met someone called Mihun, I don’t think that way, but it’s true that I’m curious about the host’s intentions.

Title: Even if everything the organizers say is true, does this game have any meaning?

Content: Let’s assume it’s true that they’re curious about which strategy will win. But in the end, the structure itself is a tournament. Of course, you can designate opponents, cooperate, and various strategies can clash, but in short, isn’t it frequent that a strategy that could end up in second place meets the top strategy early on and loses due to bad luck?

Then does this game have any meaning? Shouldn’t the rules at least be different?

Comment 1: There is no invincible strategy, and each strategy has its own strengths and weaknesses, so isn’t that okay?

Comment 2: Isn’t it even more strange if you bring up the logic that there are strengths and weaknesses? Doesn’t that mean the game itself is meaningless? Any strategy has potential, and any strategy has a definite counter.

Comment 3: I definitely feel that the tournament is strange. It should have been a league. A league where one person fights the remaining 1 billion people one by one, and the one who wins the most becomes the champion. Of course, there would be far more matches than the current tournament, but then you only need to narrow down the candidates to about 1 million or 100,000 instead of 1 billion.

Comment 4: Are you crazy? A league with 100,000 people? It’s already a lot with 30 matches, and you want to do 100,000? You have to consider the burden on the players.

Comment 5: It’s an important issue for the players, but the omnipotent organizers have no reason to consider such things.

Around that time, an angel quietly spoke to me.

“Mr. Bin. I have two announcements.”

“Hmm?”

“The period for opting out has ended. There will be no new worlds appearing.”

Ah. Has it already come to that?

The 6th round was the opt-out section. I moved forward, but others opted out. Now, if I want, I can choose one of the many worlds and collide with an unowned world in the 7th collision.

“How many opted out?”

“About 3 million.”

Enemies? There are about 16 million players left. Considering that almost no one opted out in the last section, it wouldn’t be strange if more than half opted out this time.

“They must be trying to hold on. The next opt-out section is the 9th round. In other words, it’s before the ‘disaster section’.”

“So, if the remaining players cooperate, they can push forward together.”

“That’s correct.”

Greedy. Well, even if they opt out now, with the remaining points, they can only become ‘very healthy rich people’. To become ‘immortal powerful superhumans’, they have to opt out around the 9th or 12th round.

3 million… There might not be any attractive worlds among them, but I had to be sure, so I asked about the rules again.

From noble mtl dot com

“After the world collision, you score points based on the score. What happens if you purchase a world?”

“In that case, since there is no opponent, we settle immediately. However, we do not calculate the score of the opposing world.”

“Is there a ‘minimum score’ that must be paid when purchasing a world?”

“No.”

“‘No’ means it can be zero?”

“That’s correct! It’s the fault of the player who couldn’t create a world good enough to induce competition. You could say the ‘minimum score’ is postpaid.”

Ah. I see. Since we don’t calculate the score of the opposing world when worlds collide…

The main build is not yet complete. To supplement it, I need to include more things in my ecosystem.

So, is it possible to collide with the free world…?

I looked around at the available exit items.

And I couldn’t help but frown deeply.

“What is this…?”

Every world already had bidders. And they had invested quite a few points as well.

“There seem to be quite a few players who want to pass through a collision for free. It’s called passing through a collision, but in reality, they receive a generous protection period and the world grows without hardship, so it’s more than that.”

No way. Instead of spending tens of thousands of points to get a good world right now, I’d rather save my points and buy a mythical trait after the 8th round.

If I don’t exit and don’t buy a world, the exit section is no different from a section with no events.

“What’s the second notice?”

“A player named ‘Elkaider’ sent a message.”

Hmm?

“The player who gave you the spirit world. The one whom Lord Veen showed mercy to.”

I remember that much. It’s not even a conversation, just a message, what is this?

I prepared myself to be displeased and opened the message given by the angel.

But then.

[Elkaider: Thank you, Veen. Thanks to you, I was able to exit this round. Anyway, I was able to endure until this round because of your consulting. I am grateful that I was able to escape gambling addiction and live a new life.]

There were no other words. No begging like “I’d appreciate it if you bought my world in the next collision.”

Just pure gratitude. That was all.

“It’s quite an unfitting letter for the Demon King to receive.”

“Indeed.”

“But you seem to be in a good mood.”

That’s right. I shouldn’t feel this way.

I still haven’t abandoned my humanity.

“Should you abandon it?”

“I want to.”

“Why?”

I can’t say that answer out loud.

But I think it inside. That’s why the angel could hear the words I wanted to hide.

Because I am completely disappointed in humans, I hate humans, and I despise humans.

Because I am human.

But I want to rely on humans, praise humans, and love humans.

However, I cannot do that.

Because I am human.

I wish I could love humans despite their flaws, like dolphins, elephants, or apes.

I simply cannot love the flaws of humans.

“That’s pitiful.”

“Pathetic, really.”

“It’s pitiful.”

“Can’t you just criticize me instead?”

“Well… something like, ‘It’s utterly disgraceful and disgusting for a demon king who annihilates souls without listening to their pleas to agonize over his own humanity.’ Would that suffice?”

Yeah, something like that.

“Mr. Bine.”

“?”

The angel smiled brightly, with a very clean and beautiful appearance.

“The organizers are not petty enough to nitpick over such trivial misdeeds.”

It was a chilling remark.

But the beautiful angel’s words did not end there.

“This is a statement on behalf of the organizers. In the later stages, you might be able to annihilate millions of gods with a single victory, so if you are suffering over eliminating just a few, we can only suggest you step down.

Since the ruthless annihilation of souls is also a strategic choice, you can do whatever you want. We think Mr. Bine’s play is very desirable.”

“Is that so.”

“Yes, of course. And secondly, as an angel, I must say, angels cannot steer players in a specific direction.”

“You, who still tell me to build civilizations, have no right to say that.”

“That’s because it’s the foundation of the game. Angels merely reflect the player’s innermost thoughts. But Mr. Bine, you already understand yourself perfectly, so you don’t need such advice from an angel. You can ponder on your own.”

It was a disappointingly dry answer, but it was the correct one.

Do what you want, I won’t stop you.

You already know what you want.

I know myself too well. I hoped to be denied even by the organizers, but that wasn’t the case.

However, the angel’s words did not end there.

“But as ‘me,’ as I said before, it’s just pitiful.”

“Hmm?”

“I literally feel sorry for Mr. Bean.”

“No, that’s not what I meant… Do you have a personality?”

“That’s a bit hurtful, but of course I do! Did you think I was just a robot that says whatever the player wants? Each angel has a different personality.”

…

I suddenly wondered why the existence of ‘angels’ was necessary.

When you think about it, from the perspective of a ‘game’, aren’t angels completely unnecessary? They could just exist as a system window, and if they wanted to convey rules, they could just give a thick rulebook.

There is no need to give personality to that status window and rulebook and make them interact with the player.

But if each angel has a different personality, then isn’t the angel also a ‘participant’ in this game?

No, at least, isn’t it a significant factor that influences the game’s outcome? After all, aren’t all the trait cards chosen by three angels?

I’ve already experienced several times that it’s not just given by the system, but to some extent, the angel’s will is involved.

But then, the player’s strategy is ultimately significantly influenced by the angel…

Then what is the real reason the host is hosting the game? The purpose of wanting to know which strategy is the best among the players becomes blurred by the existence of angels.

The angel, who must have been reading my thoughts, just smiled beautifully. It was a smile representing the host, with no informational value.

Author’s Note

This is the afterword for Volume 2 (Chapters 26-50). As always, you don’t have to read it.

– Personal Talk –

Editor: Author! You’ve finally written something interesting!

Author: …

There were also comments saying, ‘This time you wrote it to be fun on purpose,’ and ‘This work is really fun, unlike the previous ones’… I read all your impressions.

When enough people gather, we will start a new game of gods with possessed players, so it would be good to read the settings written in the work editorially…

It seems like no one knows, but those readers who nitpick about coherence and settings in the free chapters all disappear like ghosts once the paid chapters start, don’t they?

You’ll all know where those readers went when the time comes.

Anyway, Volume 2 of Anti-Magic King, which was very hard to write due to gastroenteritis during the writing process… Ah yes. No one calls it by that abbreviation. Whatever. Let’s start the afterword for Volume 2 of Anti-Magic King.

– Questions & Answers –

Regarding the Q&A, there are quite a few comments this time, unlike previous works, so I won’t answer things that are explained in the work or will be explained later. Such a day has come.

Instead, I’ll explain the confusing parts. You don’t have to read it, but I’ll answer the settings that bother you.

Question 1. What is the maximum level? How is the level measured?

Answer: The level is proportional only to the stats. There is no maximum, but since the world has a limit in size, it will be hard to go beyond a certain point. It is also a separate factor from the grade. Yog-Tosos is legendary but is level 5.

Question 2. Why do you keep using ‘they’ instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’?

Answer: Surprisingly, ‘they’ is also correct according to the grammar. This is pointed out quite often.

Question 3. What is the standard for humans in the trait Headhunter? I don’t know because all the creatures that appear are of the beastman type.

Question 4. Are there any creatures that parasitize Yogo-Tosos?

Answer: There were, but they couldn’t withstand the body temperature and magic flow and died. It seems to have a kind of strong immune system.

Question 5. What exactly does Shuk-Rimuras do?

Answer: It connects all the lands in the world, in other words, the fragments of the god, with cream and syrup rivers. It also connects the spiritual realm, Creamland. And it collects the genes of all living creatures in its body, mixes them, and creates new creatures. That’s why [Bread] has become more aggressive.

-Creating a Strong Enemy-

Creating a strong enemy in web novels is extremely difficult. If they fall easily, they don’t seem strong, but if they are hard to defeat, it becomes frustrating. If you give them a lot of narrative and importance, some people don’t like it, and if you make them likable, it’s hard to kill them.

The fifth opponent, Elguano, and his subordinate Shikadoz, seem to be quite well made in that regard. In fact, they were made so well that the completeness of the enemies that will appear later is a concern for the author.

Basically, it’s a one-tool strategy, but with one tool, most situations can be overcome, and weaknesses can also be overcome with its own traits, and its internal affairs are solid. It prefers cooperation over attack, and the advantages of that are strong, etc.

Elguano’s strategy was really a strategy that could go up to the 15th round just by trusting Shikadoz alone. But it got hit by a meteor, and the protagonist also gets seriously injured. I hope the enemies that appear later can be shown with this level of completeness.

-The Wall of Settings-

Editor: There’s too much setting explanation from episodes 31 to 35, can you write more continuously?

So I wrote continuously. I also combined two episodes into one. That’s right. Originally, you could have heard more explanations about the spiritual realm.

Readers must be raised strongly… Readers who can’t endure this level of explanation can’t read my writing anyway…

Actually, it wasn’t intentional, but I always try to adjust the settings, but it doesn’t work well. Maybe it’s because I really like creating settings. I’ll try to increase the volume of the parts with a lot of setting explanations so that there are no cases where the entire episode is just setting explanations.

-Dinosaur Immortal-

Actually, Mihun was originally a character made as a strong enemy that would appear later. But it was so well made that I just made it the main character and changed its personality to be more cheerful.

: :This speech: : is a parody of that work, which can be said to be a representative work of domestic immortal at this point. In fact, Tyranno Immortal itself was mentioned in the Q&A of that work, but it seemed like it wouldn’t appear in that work, so I wrote it first.

It’s a very experimental element, but Tyranno + Immortal seems to have a synergy of cool thing + cool thing = cooler thing, so everyone liked it.

Alright. If everyone likes it this much, the next work will be Dinosaur Immortal War. ‘The ominous star approaching the world. The way to fight against the fate of mass extinction is only through immortality.’

…It seems better than I thought. For now, I need to focus on this work.

-Postscript-

Volume 2 is also finished. I’ve never written a work that has achieved this much in my writing career, and I’m satisfied. I’ll probably remain a minor hipster in the future…

Actually, Volume 2 is the starting point, not the finish line. I always want to show you good writing until the end. See you in the postscript of Volume 3!